Is There A Link Between Mental Illness And Evil Spirits?

Question

Asked by Adam

Is There A Link Between Mental Illness And Evil Spirits?

What I was experiancing in 2008 were thoughts and voices, that were not my own.Plus I would feel the presence of something above my head.On top of that something poking my body that I felt as if someone tapped me.

Answer

Hey, Adam. What I'm reading between the lines here is that you are a spiritual person - a spirit with neurons. There is a lot of overlap between spirituality, intuition, creativity, and mental illness. Depression, mania, and psychosis - as delibitating as they are - have ways of bringing us closer to our divine selves. The most credible theory is that our brains are built in a way that fails to filter out info and perceptions the way "normal" brains do. We have more stuff coming in, which means it is very easy to get overwhelmed and lose it.

But if we can handle the "incoming" ... the places we can go.

I would suggest that when things get too much for you, it's not because of evil spirits but because you get overwhelmed. Too much stuff for the brain to deal with. By all means explore your spirituality. You might want to check out how Carl Jung used his own psychotic episodes as staging areas for his own voyage of self-discovery.

In other words, think of yourself as a gifted individual, but always living close to the edge. The view from the edge is unbelievable, but we must be careful, very careful.

As for evil spirts - I submit it is dangerous to take this approach in our culture. The societies who ascribe mental illness to evil spirits do so in the context of cultures thousands of years old. They have a very healthy approach to the whole thing. It fits their mindset. There is no stigma. The community rallies around the afflicted, which improves outcomes You can read about this in Ethan Watters "The Americanization of Mental Illness."

Evil spirits have a whole different context in our culture. They are linked to the Devil and divine punishment. There is an unhealthy medieval mindset.

Take home message: Explore your spirituality, be careful about going over the edge, leave the evil spirits to other cultures.